I usually try to stay away from self-help books that have numbers in the title that will teach you how to live. Life is too complex to be reduced to a few rules, but in this case, since the author is Dr Jordan B. Peterson, I made an exception because I knew that this wasn't that kind of book.
It's a wonderful journey that will teach you a lot and really provides you with amazing advice on how to approach problems and really live a better life.
Amazing book.
Book premise
The origin of the book came from Quora, of all places. You can even see the original post here (it has more than 12). This explains a bit Dr Peterson's personality of helping people as well as his innate capability of distilling super complex topics into things that people can actually understand.
I don't like Wikipedia's description of the book, but here's a better one from the publisher.
In this book, he provides twelve profound and practical principles for how to live a meaningful life, from setting your house in order before criticising others to comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, not someone else today. Happiness is a pointless goal, he shows us. Instead we must search for meaning, not for its own sake, but as a defence against the suffering that is intrinsic to our existence.
Drawing on vivid examples from the author's clinical practice and personal life, cutting-edge psychology and philosophy, and lessons from humanity's oldest myths and stories, 12 Rules for Life offers a deeply rewarding antidote to the chaos in our lives: eternal truths applied to our modern problems.
The author
I'm sure you already saw some of Dr Peterson's videos online. He is a clinical psychologist by training, but if you watch him comment on a topic, you can tell that his training and brain go way above that.
With a strong stoic personality, he may look like someone that takes things too seriously, but I think it's because he cares deeply about the topics he talks about. Some of them cause some public backlash and people can be angry with his opinions, but that's something that happens to people who talk in public. The old maxim that "you can't please everyone" applies here.
A clear disciple of Carl Jung, Friedrich Nietzsche and many, many more, he can apply concepts from them and comment on society with an eloquence that you don't see anymore, or at least not frequently.
Why did I like it?
This book covers 12 principles to life. As mentioned before you can read them on Quora. The book itself is not the principles but a wonderful journey from Stalin to God, from Canadian roots to personal problems and from modern psychology to the Bible.
The thing that I liked is the way that the topics are approached. Not only can he distill very complex topics in ways that everyone can understand and, especially important, apply in their daily lives, but he also creates an environment where so many topics and concepts interconnect and "make sense". It's uncanny, and just for that I would recommend reading the book.
It's a wonderful book that will teach you a lot, so I can't recommend this enough.
Where you can find it
Want more? Check my other book suggestions.
I have no affiliation with this brand or person (people), and the views here are my own. I didn't have any bad experiences, but if you do, please know that this is a recommendation, and you're always free to make decisions by yourself before buying something.
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